How to Actually Read Better
A Critique and Response
One of Ryan Holiday’s (the Daily Stoic) latest videos about “How to Read Better” was recently sent my way. It isn’t the first time I have watched his videos, though I don’t always agree with the arguments he makes. But I watched it and again felt that his advice was ultimately unhelpful, especially when considering teaching children to read better. I also felt that if an adult sat down and sought his advice, they would not be sure where to actually begin making improvements in their reading life. Holiday’s suggestions such as “beat books up” and reading is “an investment” offer nothing more than an aesthetic of deeper reading[1] and a materialistic approach to books.
When it comes to “beating up” a text by annotating with excessive writing in the margin or sticky notes, the only useful time to do this is when preparing for a discussion (such as for a class or lecture) in which you will need to refer back to specific points in the text or while reading a textbook[2]. The majority of readers, and especially those looking to improve their reading, are not in this population and often become more preoccupied with the aesthetic of deep reading over the reading itself. Need proof? Look up the numerous videos on the subject on Youtube; the students are.
To my second complaint– it’s an investment – I believe this further develops a façade of deep reading when taken in the wrong way. In some ways Holiday talks about reading being an investment for life, and on that half I will agree. On the other side, one invests by adding more books to their shelves rather than to their minds. The amount of books on a shelf (especially when considering most people’s shelves are full of unread books) does not indicate the level of thinking involved while reading each one, further deflating the idea of better reading.
My last complaint regarding Holiday’s recent video on how to read better is that he offers ten, non-specific strategies. If you want to teach students to read, or if you yourself are the one in pursuit of reading better, these ten strategies are not helpful and are too much at once. They offer no starting point and no way to progress from one step to the next. And at the end of it all, one might feel so overwhelmed and frustrated by the list of ten that he quits before he begins: also not a desired result.
To truly improve one’s reading the first thing to do is stop believing the lies about reading; for teachers this further extends to stop teaching the lies. The lies: "That book is too difficult; I’ll never understand it; Shakespeare is too complex for me; ____ said this book was [insert negative adjective here] so I won’t like it either.” The list goes on, but ultimately the lies place books in an unattainable category.
This notion is utterly false.
Aside from developmental growth in beginning readers, books are much more attainable than many believe they are. Just as a new runner cannot run a marathon, so a new reader cannot read Dostoyevsky or Homer or Shakespeare. But if equipped with the proper tools of learning, those authors can and should be read by younger audiences. Reading great books earlier will also shape their minds later by equipping them with more experiences with which to tie learning and build connections from.
So, what are the real tools to improve reading after you’ve stopped believing the lies? For the rest of my piece, I will assume that readers are secondary students (middle school and above) or adults. The tools to teach phonics in beginning readers are cause for another piece, though they lay a foundation from which we will push forward.
Tool 1: Never leave an unknown word undefined.
It is lazy and negligent to do so when definitions live at our fingertips. As one sets out to improve his reading, this will feel tedious and frustrating. The desire to skip just one time will arise, but don’t. Fight against it. This will dramatically improve working vocabulary and the number of words to look up will decrease. It will also improve comprehension and reading time, the true side of the investment.
As you look up definitions, pay attention to synonyms, antonyms, and roots or origins. This extra information will help you form connections between words and remember new terms quicker.
Recently I was reading a text by C.S. Lewis and he used mercenary several times in a chapter. I read through it and knew that my understanding of mercenary had to be incorrect. I humbled myself and looked it up and the second definition was the one I needed to fully understand the extent of his arguments. Lewis was not discussing hired soldiers, rather the concern of making money at the expense of ethics. Had I left it undefined, the meaning of his passage would have been greatly diminished if ever fully understood.
Tool 2: Reread.
Reread challenging passages. Reread paragraphs or pages or chapters you find interesting. Reread entire books when you feel compelled. What you gain from a text on a first read is enhanced, sharpened, or enlightened by a second, third, or fourth read. (In some ways, Ryan Holiday does share this sentiment throughout his video, though I still will not condone annotating as I believe they impair rereading rather than enhance it. When I have gone back to reread heavily annotated texts, it was distracting and the notes in the margins felt meaningless. I often had no idea why I had written the notes in the first place or what their connections were from one page to the next. As a result, I got less out of it.)
Just the other night I read through one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. The first read through I know I read the words, noticed some of the punctuation usage, had a vague sense of a shift, but it wasn’t until the second read through that the whole picture became clear and his meaning clicked into place. It was instant. I know it won’t always be an instant understanding but every time I reread a text something new becomes clear or I admire a new sentence or I find a deeper appreciation for the book as a whole.
Tool 3: Read widely.
One of my favorite quotes is from Ursula Le Guin:
“If you don’t read widely, or only read writers in fashion at the moment, you’ll have a limited idea of what can be done with the English language.”
Although this was in her book on writing[3], the same sentiment applies to readers. There is great satisfaction in finding a genre or author one enjoys, but growth stops when one no longer explores the vast landscape of literature. Take a break from a beloved genre and read a classic, dabble in poetry, immerse in history, converse with great thinkers of bygone days. You may find love for new genres, texts, authors, ideas. Perhaps you will find a deeper appreciation for your current favorites. Regardless, reading widely naturally broadens and challenges your thinking by exposing you to new situations, characters, and ideas. Reading widely also allows you to naturally form connections to other books and ideas (Tool 4!).
When it comes to teaching, the diversity of texts is often taught in isolation. There is a short fiction unit, a novel unit, poetry unit, and nonfiction unit. If we want to help foster better and deeper reading skills in our students, teachers need to blend these genres together. Use poetry as a way of responding to a historical topic or current event. Use short fiction to analyze the impacts of war. Pair that with memoirs, news, poetry, and some film. Students will take more away from the lesson; even if they don’t remember the nitty-gritty facts, they will remember the skills you helped embed by exposing them to multiple facets of writing.
It is not a coincidence that the best books were written by authors who read widely and could converse and debate ideas from a variety of fields and interests. They could bridge gaps between subjects because they had developed the ideas and reasoning to do so. Being widely read has recently declined and our culture is suffering as a result.
Tool 4: Make Connections.
If you are adhering to the first three tools, this will begin to happen naturally. Before, during, and after reading it is important to make connections. Have you seen the themes in other texts? Do moments in the book resemble moments throughout history? Current events? Something else you’ve read? A similar or opposite character? Who else had an opinion on the subject? Were their points valid?
Build a web in your mind that connects your reading. As you read, these connections become stronger and further reaching. For example, in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Scrooge wrestles with his ghosts, especially the Ghost of Christmas Past. This is an allusion to Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis. I had to reread A Christmas Carol and study Genesis before that connection became apparent. But once it did, my understanding and appreciation of Dickens’ work changed dramatically.
In The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck, there is a direct allusion to Shakespeare’s Macbeth: BANQUO: How goes the night, boy? FLEANCE: The moon is down. I have not heard the clock.[4] Later on in the Steinbeck’s novel, Mayor Orden quotes Socrates’ last words as he too faces death: “Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius.” Both of these allusions could be easily overlooked, but with them armed in mind, as a result of deep reading and careful connection, the meaning and impact of Steinbeck’s work dramatically increases. Not to mention, he himself had to be widely read to make such allusions in the first place. (As did Dickens and Lewis!)
In regards to teaching young readers, I am hesitant to suggest teaching text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections as a strategy for teachers. I find this approach to be too strict, too forced. If students have not experienced enough of the world, or if their lessons are not properly blended, their ability to form these connections is stunted. And some of the best connections my students have shared with me have come mid-year as a result of our reading, class discussions, and exposure to a variety of genres. If looking for ways to encourage connections, start by analyzing theme. Where have these themes presented themselves elsewhere? Utilize text-sets with similar main ideas across multiple genres. Have students search for texts with common themes and analyze them. Or my personal favorite: challenge students to write the same theme in different genres. (I love the results of this project!)
Tool 5: Memorize.
As I mentioned before, annotation is not a requirement nor an indicator of deeper reading. Instead, work on memorization.
Beginning with Tool 1, memorize the unknown words being defined. This will aid the last four tools and your immediate understanding of what you read will improve.
Once you are committing previously unknown words to memory, begin memorizing the themes and ideas of the books. Then remember the connections you made and your thinking surrounding each one. Memorize sentences, passages, poems, quotes and sentiments (and their speakers), speeches, and more. And always remember to memorize the new vocabulary!
This will not happen overnight. Remember the marathon runner? Don’t forget that the brain is a muscle and requires training and discipline as our legs and lungs do. But if one has a desire to read better and get more from each book he reads, memorization is the final tool.
Memorization is possible to teach. Start with vocabulary. Dates. Events. As students grow older the memorized facts become pegs upon which to hang deeper thoughts, connections, experiences. Students can (and so can adults) memorize rhymes, poems, and important speeches. This is a skill like any other and should be emphasized and practiced.
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In all of these tools, writing can be helpful, though not essential for adult readers. I would of course ask my students to write, reflect, define vocabulary, and show their connections so that I can see what progress we are making throughout the year and where skills still need strengthened with teacher support. As an adult-reader, a journal and written reflections can aid connections and memorization as you read deeper and wider. I will caution: don’t get caught up in the lie of the “reader’s journal aesthetic” and lose the point of it all.
Lastly, to be a better reader one must banish the final lie that great readers read 100+ books a year. Ask that reader to summarize each one and tell you what they enjoyed or disliked about it (let alone new words learned, themes and connections) and most won’t be able to. Ditch the lies about reading, practice these five tools, and you will gain more from the twelve books you read a year than that 100-book reader ever will.
These tools have changed my reading life, my writing life, and my work as a teacher. I know they can do the same for you.
Happy reading,
Amanda
Footnotes:
[1] I define deeper reading as reading with active and critical thought.
[2] Even with a textbook, I prefer to teach notetaking skills over excessive annotations.
[3] Steering the Craft by Ursula Le Guin (1998)
[4] Macbeth Act 1 Scene 2